Date: 22 June - 5 July
Coverage: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC HD, Red Button, website streaming (UK only) and text commentary, 5 Live, 5 Live Sports Extra, BBC iPlayer
Highlights - Murray crushes Troicki
Andy Murray brushed aside the challenge of Viktor Troicki to move effortlessly into the second week at Wimbledon.
The British number one will face Stanislas Wawrinka in Monday's fourth round after winning 6-2 6-3 6-4 in one hour 36 minutes on Centre Court.
Murray broke for the first time at 3-2 and Troicki crumbled, losing seven games in a row as the world number three almost toyed with his opponent.
Murray faced one break point in the entire match, saving it with an ace.
The match was played under leaden skies, but despite thunderstorms in the Wimbledon area, the rain never came - and Centre Court's new roof is still awaiting its competitive debut after six days of action.
"Obviously I wanted to finish the match as quickly as possible," said the 22-year-old. "It would have been a nice bit of history, but I wasn't that worried by it."
Murray pleased with opening week
The roof was immediately shut after the players went off, whereupon Murray told BBC Sport he felt he had not peaked yet.
"I have to give myself an A for coming through the first week," he said. "Today was very good. I felt a little bit uncomfortable at the start, but after the first set I started to feel more comfortable.
"I've got to be happy with the first week - I felt better and better with every match. But I'm going to have to play better next week if I want to come away with the title."
Murray's hopes of making his second Grand Slam final received a boost later on Saturday when Fernando Gonzalez, his conqueror at this year's French Open and a possible quarter-final opponent here, was beaten in five sets by Juan Carlos Ferrero.
But on this form, Murray has no-one to fear.
Troicki had won just one game in his last encounter against Murray at the Miami Masters, a tournament the Scot went on to win.
The 30th seed managed a little better on Saturday, but Murray still proved far too strong.
"I think I played OK - he just played better," said Troicki. "He's playing great - for sure he's one of the favourites to win here.
"The crowd is behind him. He might be a champion, if not this year, maybe next year. Even this year, he's looking good."
As it was in the last round against Ernests Gulbis, Murray's serve was outstanding, while his return was almost impeccable.
But it was the Scot's ability to make his opponent play one more shot which really seemed to rattle Troicki.
At 3-2 in the first set, a heavily sliced forehand from Murray forced Troicki to net, giving the third seed three break points.
He took the second, hustling Troicki from the baseline until his frustrated opponent went for too much on a forehand.
As Murray broke once more to take the first set in 27 minutes and then took a 2-0 lead in the second, Troicki began to look increasingly desperate, looking to his support camp at one point and mournfully shrugging his shoulders.
Umbrellas occasionally went up in the crowd, but the odd drop never became a full-blown shower, and Troicki was left to stew.
 | 606: DEBATE princeSchadenfreude |
In the opening game of the third set, the Serb put up a reaction lob, but Murray chased it back to the baseline and returned with interest, Troicki putting his attempted smash into the net.
Murray went on to break for the fourth time, his opponent's despairing body language suggesting the end would come quickly.
To his credit, Troicki dug deep, and even had a break point at 1-2, but Murray slammed down an ace - one of 17 - and calmly served out a consummate win
No comments:
Post a Comment